“If It Weren’t For Pirate Bay I Wouldn’t Be Here Right Now”: Gramatik Talks Piracy, Sampling And More [Interview]

The pride of Slovenia and NYC alike, Denis Jasarevic has been one of the most innovative minds in electronic music ever since he officially stepped onto the scene with Street Bangerz Vol. 1 in 2008. Gramatik’s sound is an unmistakable forging of old-school and new, never ceasing to blend eras and infuse it with a little bit of his patented hip-hop prowess.

Recently at Electric Forest, we had the opportunity to sit down for a chat with one of our favorite artists (and human beings) in the industry today. Touching on everything from sampling technique, to owning a label, to Edward Snowden and everything in between, take a look below and see if you can learn something new about the man behind Gramatik.

How would you explain your creative process behind sampling?

“It’s never a static thing. I don’t have a routine going about sampling stuff, it’s very dynamic and spontaneous. I’ll hear something on the radio, I Shazam it or whatever, and then I put it into Ableton and try to flip it around a bunch of times and see what I can do with it.

Sometimes I need a sample, something old and dirty, and then I go and look for it but whenever I look for it actively I rarely ever find it. The universe doesn’t seem to allow for that to happen. The best samples are the ones I’ve found naturally, spontaneously.”

How did you ever find the violin in Giuseppe Tartini’s “The Devil’s Trill Sonata” from over 300 years ago and decide to use that as the inspiration behind “Orchestrated Incident”?

“Tartini is from my hometown, so he’s huge back where I’m from in Piran on the coast of Slovenia. We have a square with a statue called “Tartini Square”, our radio station is Tartini radio station, he’s a huge historical figure in my hometown.

When I started sampling I was like “fuck I should sample some Tartini stuff.” It was fortunate that Tartini was a very minor based composer, his melodies are very dark which I like.”

What are the advantages of owning your own label? What kinds of freedom do you enjoy right now that you couldn’t on PLM?

“The main advantage would be that you are your own boss. I always planned to do that, I told Derek right away that I wanted to do two projects and then do my own thing and he understood it. We’re very much alike in that regard.

With Lowtemp we do the same thing that PLM did with me. You’re free to come and go as you please, release on other labels. Lowtemp is pretty much like a pit stop where you come back and expose yourself to this fan-base and then you go on.

It’s not about “labels” in 2015. It’s about getting as much exposure as you can on the Internet so that you can have your own career.”

You’re pretty active on social media, do you think artists should feel an obligation to use their platform to voice their opinion on matters?

“I think if you have something constructive or intellectual to contribute, you should definitely voice your opinion. I don’t do it nearly as much as I want to, but if I don’t think I have the right stuff to say about the issue at hand, I just don’t do it rather than write some half-ass rant and just confuse people. If you believe strongly in something, and know what you’re talking about, then absolutely go and say it.”

So would you say that artists censor themselves sometimes as to not alienate potential fans or start a ruckus?

“That’s definitely happening. Some artists don’t want to offend anybody and want to get every single fan that they can. Even if it means staying silent and being a bystander.”

Edward Snowden: Hero or traitor?

“Hero, definitely. Because he did the right thing. The Supreme Court just ruled the NSA phone program is illegal and basically in my mind gave him the green light to get exonerated. If you’re going by the Constitution he did the right thing, 100%.

I hope the last thing Obama does before he leaves office is exonerate him. Imagine that as a PR move. He’d go down in history as President of the People. I hope eventually he gets exonerated, it’s the right thing to do.”

What’s your rationale behind releasing all your label’s music for free? Do you think by making Lowtemp’s music easily accessible by fans, it has contributed to the success it’s enjoying right now?

“We also offer it for sale, but primarily it’s free. It’s more important to us for everybody to have it whenever they want rather than to sell it.

Releasing my music for free worked for me. When I decided to put my entire discography on Pirate Bay and promoted Pirate Bay as a great thing, the people really liked that I did that and I believe it contributed a lot to my success. After that a lot of stuff started to pick up.

There’s many reasons that music should be free, I could go on for hours, but the main reason to me is that I come from a working class family. I wasn’t able to afford all the programs and plug-ins that you need to start making music, I was in 7th grade and my parents couldn’t afford it either. If it weren’t for Pirate Bay and other torrent sites, I would never be here.”

“Freeing music by making music free”

In an interview in 2013 you said, “Having my own label has been my lifelong goal.” Now that you’ve achieved that, what would be your next goal as an artist?

“We just released a short movie, Condor, and I’ve been really getting into filmmaking and scoring. My girlfriend wrote, directed, and starred in the movie. It’s absolutely something that I want to pursue in the future when I feel I’m too old to be playing festivals and touring.”

Describe the perfect day.

“My perfect day is always being at home, in New York City, on my couch with my 75-inch TV watching all the latest shows and movies, smoking weed and chilling. After all these years on tour you learn to appreciate time on the couch in front of a TV.”

What would you have for lunch?

“Probably Pad-Kee-Mao…it’s my favorite Thai dish.”

Before we wrap this up, any shout-outs or artists you feel need more attention?

“Definitely Haywyre. I really think he’s the next big thing. There are a bunch of young kids coming up that are light years ahead of where I was at their age, and he’s one of them.”

We want to extend a big thank you to Gramatik and his team for making this possible! Stay on the lookout for Denis coming your way on his worldwide Epi-Gram-Atik Tour, you can buy your ticket at a stop near you here on his site.